Soft Eyes
Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard
January 24, 2016
Last week: the power of worldview
•This week . . . a little more
•Red Spade Experiment by Bruner and Postman
•How anomalies are treated
•How much resistance we demonstrate tochanging perception or new ideas
Soft eyes
The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer,
p. 112-113
Example from Japanese self-defense art ofaikido
Transcending reflex . . .
Luke 4:14-17
14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power ofthe Spirit, and news about Him spread through allthe surrounding district. 15 And He began teachingin their synagogues and was praised by all.
16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had beenbrought up; and as was His custom, He enteredthe synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up toread. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah washanded to Him. And He opened the book andfound the place where it was written,
Luke 4:18-19
18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THEGOSPEL TO THE POOR.HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TOTHE CAPTIVES,AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THELORD.”
Luke 4:20-23
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to theattendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in thesynagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began tosay to them, “Today this Scripture has beenfulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all were speakingwell of Him, and wondering at the gracious wordswhich were falling from His lips; and they weresaying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He saidto them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb toMe, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heardwas done at Capernaum, do here in yourhometown as well.’”
Luke 4:24-27
24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet iswelcome in his hometown. 25 But I say to you intruth, there were many widows in Israel in thedays of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for threeyears and six months, when a great famine cameover all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent tonone of them, but only to Zarephath, in theland of Sidon, to a woman who was awidow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel inthe time of Elisha the prophet; and none of themwas cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Luke 4:28-30
28 And all the people in the synagogue werefilled with rage as they heard thesethings; 29 and they got up and drove Him outof the city, and led Him to the brow of the hillon which their city had been built, in order tothrow Him down the cliff. 30 But passingthrough their midst, He went His way.
No wisdom . . .
•People who can only defend their own belief,can’t see the good in another perspective
•Polarizing voices in politics can be like this
•Extraordinary example: When PresidentObama said at a Prayer Breakfast that we, too,had made mistakes in history
•He was following the teaching of Jesus(remember the log and the splinter?)
A president slandered
•Scripture tells us to pray for our leaders
•We ought to try to praise the good they do
•It’s fine to say when we disagree
•But some people have so demonized thispresident that they can only ever imagine himdoing evil
•They’ve completely missed all the ways he hastried to make life better for people
Hard Eyes
•They are like the people in Jesus’ day whocouldn’t believe that God would be pleasedwith non-Jewish communities
•Jesus could have stayed happily within theirexpectations
•But then He wouldn’t have been stayingwithin God’s
Amos 9:7
“Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me,O sons of Israel?” declares the LORD.“Have I not brought up Israel from the land ofEgypt,And the Philistines from Caphtor andthe Arameans from Kir?
Towing the Party Line
Faithfulness
or
Folly?
Proverbs 15
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,But a harsh word stirs up anger.
28 The heart of the righteous ponders how toanswer,But the mouth of the wicked pours out evilthings.
Proverbs 17
27 He who restrains his words has knowledge,And he who has a cool spirit is a man ofunderstanding.28 Even a fool, when he keeps silent, isconsidered wise;When he closes his lips, heis considered prudent.
Proverbs 18
2 A fool does not delight in understanding,But only in revealing his own mind.
I think a lot of Christians . . .
•Are not taking seriously enough the Bible theyclaim to follow
•Might have to ask forgiveness someday ofpeople they have slandered because they helddifferent views
•The discipline of Soft Eyes might change this
Matthew 6
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then ifyour eye is clear, your whole body will be fullof light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your wholebody will be full of darkness. If then the lightthat is in you is darkness, how great is thedarkness!